Chess and Prophecies
by The Peverells
Summary: An evening at Number 12, Grimmauld Place is interrupted by eight visitors who claim to be from the future. Time travel.
1. 1995

Harry was feeling very apprehensive. The Order meeting had been going on for hours. Fred and George had tried out Ginny's test of throwing Dungbombs at the kitchen door and discovered that Mrs. Weasley had taken the precaution of putting an Imperturbable Charm on it again, so they weren't even able to get any information about what was going on with Voldemort. But that wasn't why Harry was feeling apprehensive. He stared at the chessboard, willing himself to figure out how to keep Ron from winning.

Fred and George were currently playing Exploding Snap on Ron's bed, while Hermione was leaning against the wall reading some huge book. Ginny was stroking Crookshanks and watching Ron and Harry play chess on Harry's bed. Harry had been playing a defensive game almost from the beginning, and now Ron's pieces were all over the board, while Harry's were stuck close together, unable to do any significant damage to Ron's pieces. He figured the biggest problem at the moment was Ron's knight, which had been hopping all over the board taking out Harry's pieces.

But now Ron had put the knight right in the path of Harry's bishop. It seemed almost too easy, and Harry was sure that Ron had some sort of trick up his sleeve, but for the life of him, he could not figure it out. His bishop would not be in any danger from Ron's other pieces if he took Ron's knight, and his bishop wasn't protecting any of his important pieces. But he had never known Ron to make a mistake in chess. So should he take Ron's knight, and assume that Ron had made a mistake, or should he figure out something else to do? Harry looked at his other pieces. What else could he do? Ron had trapped his pieces very effectively, and could stop any offensive Harry launched immediately, with great loss to Harry's pieces. Harry was morosely contemplating one of these scenarios, in which he moved his bishop to put Ron's king in check, which he could see would cause him to lose both his rooks, four pawns, and his bishop, leaving him with one pawn, one knight, and his king, while Ron would only lose one pawn. How had he gotten into this situation? He supposed he should be used to it after playing Ron for years, but it was still frustrating. Really, he could see no option other than taking Ron's knight, even though he knew it was probably a trap. So, with a deep breath, he said, "Bishop to D6."

He looked up just in time to see Ginny's smirk, and realized that he had just made a huge mistake. Less than two minutes later, his king was checkmated, and Harry still had no idea how it had happened. Just as his king was throwing down his crown, there was a huge BANG, and everyone jumped.

Fred and George emerged from the smoke of their exploded Exploding Snap game, Fred with soot all over his face.

"Well, that was fun. Who wants to go see if the Order meeting's almost finished?"

Everyone jumped up, glad for something else to do. They headed downstairs, careful not to wake Mrs. Black's portrait, and reached the kitchen just as the door opened, and Mrs. Weasley came out.

"I'm so sorry that took so long, dears. Why don't you come in and I'll whip up something for dinner?"

They all followed her back into the kitchen to see the entire Order, some talking quietly to each other, and some sitting looking at maps. Harry suspected they were the same maps he had seen his first evening at Grimmauld Place. He saw Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks in a corner, laughing at something Tonks had said. Dumbledore, Snape, Kingsley, and Moody were discussing something near the fireplace, while Bill Weasley was laughing at an argument Mundungus seemed to be making to Mr. Weasley. Lupin saw him and waved him over with a smile, and Harry made his way over, sidestepping Emmeline Vance, who was talking to Professor McGonagall.

"Wotcher Harry." Tonks smiled at him. "Sorry the meeting was so . . ."

BANG! Everybody jumped as Mrs. Black's shrieking filled the air. It sounded like someone had knocked over the troll-leg umbrella stand, but Harry had thought everyone was in the kitchen. Moody immediately looked through the kitchen door to the hallway outside. Harry heard Sirius mutter "Probably Kreacher," but couldn't help notice that Sirius' hand was on his wand.

Moody pointed his wand at the kitchen door. "There are eight people in the hallway."

Harry pulled out his wand, and noticed the members of the Order doing the same. Ron and Hermione appeared next to him. Ginny, Fred, and George were standing with Bill and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. They also had their wands out. The kitchen was completely silent. Harry could hear people talking in the hallway, but couldn't make out what they were saying over Mrs. Black's shrieks. Fred and George fumbled in their pockets and pulled out some extendable ears, ignoring Mrs. Weasley's glare, and passed one to Dumbledore, one to Moody, and one to Kingsley.

Kingsley furrowed his brow as he listened to what the intruders were saying. "They're saying something about how this place doesn't look how it looked before . . . it's dirtier now? . . ."

Sirius tightened his grip on his wand. "Bellatrix or Narcissa."

But Moody shook his head, "It's not them, unless they're using Polyjuice. And they're just standing there. Those two would have immediately gone looking for us."

Kingsley continued to explain what the intruders were saying. "They're blaming a James, a Fred, and a Louis for changing the way the hallway looks, but James, Fred, and Louis are denying it." He looked up. "They seem like kids." He sounded confused. "Now they're talking about looking around to see if they can figure out what happened." He looked up. "They're coming here!"

He hastily pulled back his extendable ear, followed quickly by Dumbledore and Moody, and raised his wand. Everyone was now staring tensely at the kitchen door. It was opened by a young man with turquoise hair. He clearly hadn't expected to see anybody, because he looked shocked, and his hair turned to dark brown. He was just reaching for his wand when Mr. Weasley grabbed him and pulled him inside. Other members of the Order quickly grabbed him, and took his wand from him. Meanwhile, the other intruders also had their wands taken, even though none of them had had wands in their hands, and someone closed the curtains over Mrs. Black.

"Say, isn't that Lucius Malfoy's son. What's his name? Draco?"

Harry looked at the person Mr. Weasley was pointing at.

"No, although he does look like him a lot." He didn't know exactly what was different about this person, but he knew it wasn't Draco Malfoy. Ron and Hermione seemed to have come to the same conclusion, because they nodded at his words.

Hermione turned to the intruder standing next to the Malfoy clone, "And look, there's someone who looks a bit like Harry, too, only without the scar." It was true. His clone was staring at him with his mouth open, while Malfoy's clone was looking around. Both of them looked confused. The girl next to them had bushy hair like Hermione's, only it was Weasley red. She was staring around her with narrowed eyes. Next to her was another wizard with messy black hair, who was also staring straight at Harry with his mouth open. When he saw Harry look at him, he started and looked around, only to drop his mouth open again when he saw Ginny. Next to him was someone with red hair who Harry would say was definitely one of Ron's cousins, except that his skin was darker than the pasty-white Weasleys, he had no freckles, and none of the Weasleys seemed to have any idea who he was. He was looking at Fred and George with his eyes narrowed and his head to one side. A blonde boy next to him was watching at the silent conversation between the one who had come in first (who now had black hair) and the woman next to him. She was tall and beautiful, with long blonde hair. She reminded Harry of Fleur Delacour, from the Tri-Wizard Tournament last year. He wondered if this woman was part Veela, too.

"May I ask who you are?" Dumbledore asked, but there was steel behind his words.

The wizard who had come in first looked at the woman next to him one last time, and then turned to Dumbledore. "Do you know today's date?"

"I believe it is the 14th of August."

"And . . . er . . . the year?" The newcomers were all staring at Dumbledore, seemingly desperately waiting for his answer.

"It's 1995 . . ." The eight intruders looked at each other, and the Metamorphmagus's hair turned brown again, ". . . but I'm afraid if you want me to believe you have all travelled in time, you will have to give me proof."

Time travelers? Was that even possible? Everyone else looked shocked as well.

"What proof would you like, sir?"

"When do you say you are from?"

"2022. Same day."

The blonde woman said, "Teddy," and the Metamorphmagus turned to her, then back to Dumbledore.

"And I think we would like some proof that you are who you say you are as well, sir."

"Very well. First of all, why don't you tell us who you say you are, and then we can figure out what proof will be needed?"

Moody jumped in, "Wait a minute, Dumbledore! We have to figure out how they got in! This house is under the Fidelius Charm. Nobody should be able to get in."

Teddy responded, "My godfather lives here. The last place we were in 2022 was this house. Although, come to think of it, I don't know where this is, even though I used to."

"Your godfather lives here?" Sirius asked.

Dumbledore cut in, "I think we should all sit down, and then the newcomers can introduce themselves."

Everyone sat down (Lupin quickly caught a chair before Tonks knocked it over), although Moody remained standing, staring suspiciously at the intruders. Harry found himself next to Ron and Hermione, and across from Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks. Most of the Order had their wands still in their hands and ready to use, although none of the intruders had their wands anymore.

The Metamorphmagus started the introductions, "I'm Teddy."

"Last name as well, please, Teddy," said Dumbledore. Harry was pretty sure Dumbledore didn't believe that the intruders were really from the future, because Dumbledore still sounded cold when he spoke.

"Sir, some of our names might be familiar, and if this really is 1995, then our names would give some knowledge of the future."

"I am quite proficient at memory charms. Just answer my questions."

"Yes, sir. My last name is Lupin."

Everyone looked at Lupin. He looked shocked, and glanced at Tonks, who grinned back at him. Harry had no idea what Tonks had to do with someone's last name being Lupin, unless . . .

The newcomer was a Metamorphmagus, like Tonks. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling. Harry had the feeling that he was starting to believe the visitors' story. "Very well," he responded, "And the young lady next to you?"

The blonde woman answered, "I'm Victoire Weasley."

"WEASLEY?!" Fred and George exclaimed, "But your hair isn't red! And you're a girl! Ginny's the only girl Weasley in centuries!"

Victoire laughed, "There are plenty of girl Weasleys in our time. And I don't have red hair because my mum was blonde."

"Who's your mother?" Bill Weasley asked. Bill looked like he thought he might know.

"Never mind that! Who's your father? Am I your grandmum?" Mrs. Weasley looked excited.

Victoire grinned, "Yes, you are my grandmum. My mum—I don't know if you've met her yet—Fleur Delacour? She was one of the contestants in the TriWizard Tournament in the 1994-1995 school year, which I guess just ended, didn't it? Bill is my father."

Bill looked very happy with this news. Mrs. Weasley did not.

The intruder with the messy black hair that was not Harry's clone looked around. "Is Uncle Bill here? I don't see him." Harry wondered about the title of uncle. This wizard didn't have red hair either.

There was silence around the table. Bill was sitting directly across from him.

Bill answered, "I'm right here."

The not-clone of Harry looked at Bill, surprised, as did the other visitors. "Oh. Yeah," He looked nervous, "I didn't see you there. Sorry."

All of the visitors were staring at Bill as if they had never seen him before. Mr. Weasley looked like he was about to ask them what had happened to Bill, but Dumbledore interrupted, "Why don't we continue with the introductions?"

The blonde next to Victoire went next. "I'm Victoire's brother Louis." Mrs. Weasley beamed.

Louis nudged the redhead next to him, who stopped looking at Fred and George to say, "As you can see from my red hair, I am a Weasley." He grinned at Fred and George, "Fred Weasley II, at your service. You two really are impossible to tell apart, aren't you?"

This silenced the table again. "You mean people can tell them apart in the future?" Mrs. Weasley asked. Fred and George looked shocked.

The time-travelers looked nervous again. Teddy answered, "It's just that, in the future, Uncle George has a scar that Uncle Fred doesn't have. It's pretty easy to tell them apart." The rest of the time-travelers nodded vigorously.

The wizard next to Fred II, who had messy black hair but didn't look like Harry, quickly jumped in, "I'm James Potter." He turned to Harry. "Hi dad!"

Harry's mouth dropped open. What?

Sirius, Lupin, Tonks, Ron, Hermione, Fred, and George all burst out laughing at the look on Harry's face. Most of the time-travelers were grinning too. Harry looked around. Most of the Order also had smiles on their faces. Snape, on the other hand, looked like he had swallowed something sour. But Harry was wondering something different. James didn't look like Cho at all. Who was his mother?

Hermione seemed to be wondering the same thing, because she asked James. "My mum? Ginny Weasley, of course." Ginny?! But didn't Ginny have a boyfriend? And while Harry liked Ginny, he didn't like her in that way. He looked at Ginny, who was sitting next to Tonks, and she turned red. Harry was sure he turned red, too. Ron, Bill, Fred, and George were looking between the two of them. Ron and Bill looked like they weren't sure what they thought of Harry and Ginny being married and having kids, but Fred and George were smirking. Mrs. Weasley was beaming even more than before, if that was possible, and Mr. Weasley was smiling. Dumbledore motioned for the introductions to continue.

The girl next to James with the bushy red hair turned out to be Rose Weasley. Harry was pretty sure he knew who her parents were. Hermione and Ron, on the other hand, seemed to have no idea.

"So who is your father?" Ron asked.

"And your mother?" Hermione added.

Rose looked startled. "You two, of course. Oh wait, you don't get together for a couple more years, do you?"

Hermione and Ron both went very red, and looked everywhere but at each other. Harry caught Ginny's eye and they both grinned.

The Malfoy clone next to Rose didn't seem to want to introduce himself. "I'm Scorpius. Scorpius . . . Malfoy."

"And I'm Al Potter. That's everyone, right? Didn't you want proof that we are who we say we are, sir?" the Harry clone asked Dumbledore, "And we want proof from you, too, but I don't know what exactly that would be. Teddy?" He said this very fast and very loud.

Teddy was about to answer when Sirius said what everyone else was thinking, "Wait a second. Malfoy? That's a Malfoy?"

Scorpius Malfoy's face was blank, but Harry thought he tensed a little. Rose jumped in. "He's our friend. Don't judge him just because you don't like his family!" The other visitors nodded, agreeing with her statement.

Ron looked like he could not believe that his future daughter was defending a _Malfoy_. Snape was looking at Scorpius Malfoy calculatingly.

Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling again, "Well, I think most of us believe you . . ." Moody grunted in disagreement, "but is there perhaps something that nobody but people in the Order know, but that is common knowledge in the future?"

Teddy narrowed his eyes in thought. "Rose, what was going on in 1995?"

"Lord Voldemort . . ." Many people flinched, but none of the time-travelers did. ". . . was resurrected on June 24, 1995 during the final task of the TriWizard Tournament, using the blood of Harry Potter." She sounded exactly like Hermione did whenever she quoted a textbook word for word. "In doing this Lord Voldemort took some of Lily Potter's protection into himself, enabling him to touch Harry Potter without harm to himself and unknowingly tethering Harry Potter to life until Lord Voldemort's own death on May 2, 1998, enabling Harry Potter to survive a second killing curse by Lord Voldemort on the same night. The ministry under Minister Cornelius Fudge refused to believe in Lord Voldemort's return and began a campaign to discredit Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, the most prominent voices saying Lord Voldemort had returned, which included removing Dumbledore from the Wizengamot and starting rumors that Harry Potter was mentally unstable. This worked to Lord Voldemort's advantage, as he was able to work without the threat of the Ministry attempting to stop him. This is considered the reason why Lord Voldemort became so much more powerful during the Second Wizarding War than he ever was during the First Wizarding War." Some of the older Order members glanced at each other in dismay.

"However, Albus Dumbledore reformed the Order of the Phoenix, which actively protected members of the magical community and, during 1995 and the beginning of 1996, attempted to thwart Lord Voldemort's efforts to enter the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic to obtain a prophecy about Harry Potter and himself. This prophecy is the same one that sent Lord Voldemort to the Potters on October 31, 1981. However, he had only heard part of the prophecy, and was determined to hear the rest. Lucius Malfoy was in command of this attempt, and on June 18, 1996, succeeded in entering the Department of Mysteries, but was foiled by Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Ginevra Weasley, Luna Lovegood, and the Order of the Phoenix. Lucius Malfoy and most of the Death Eaters with him were incarcerated in Azkaban, and the Ministry was forced to acknowledge that Lord Voldemort was alive and active once more. Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger were the only people to know the full contents of the Prophecy until the end of the Second Wizarding War on May 2, 1998, when the contents were released to the public. The Prophecy established Harry Potter as the Chosen One to defeat Lord Voldemort. The contents of the Prophecy are as follows: 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . . Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies . . . And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not . . . And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives . . . The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies . . .'" She paused. "I assume that's enough proof? Only four people know that Prophecy," Rose glanced at Snape, "Well, only four know all of it, and they're all in this room."

There was complete silence.

"What was that Prophecy?"

"_Neville Longbottom_?!"

"_Luna Lovegood_?!"

"Harry was hit with the killing curse _again_?"

"The Chosen One?"

Eventually Dumbledore, who looked unusually somber, was able to raise his voice loud enough for everyone to hear, "Yes, thank you, those are the contents of the Prophecy, which nobody but me knows, so I believe that is enough proof for everyone?" Everyone nodded, although everyone still looked shocked, and many people were glancing at Harry out of the corners of their eyes. "Now what would you like as proof from us? After that, I believe that some of us want to ask you some questions."

Teddy answered, "Well, I think we're pretty convinced this is actually 1995 . . ." The others nodded. ". . . But maybe could Nymphadora Tonks change her appearance in some way, and could Sirius Black change into his Animagus form?"

Tonks immediately changed not only her nose, but her entire face, into a pig's face, complete with pink hair sticking up at the top. Harry thought she looked rather like a pink haired Dudley. Teddy couldn't seem to take his eyes off her long enough to look at Sirius, who had turned into a large dog. Teddy turned to the other time travelers, who nodded. "Er, you wanted to ask us questions?"

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley jumped in, "You said Harry was hit by the Killing Curse again? By You-Know-Who?"

"Yes, but he survived."

"How?" Lupin asked.

"Voldemort had Harry's blood, and therefore Lily's blood, in him, and since Lily's blood kept him alive, he couldn't die until Voldemort died."

Mrs. Weasley jumped in again, "And this thing that happens next June . . ."

"Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna were tricked into going to the Department of Mysteries to get that Prophecy, but fought off twelve Death Eaters until the Order of the Phoenix arrived and helped."

"_Neville Longbottom_ fights off Death Eaters?" Ron asked. Harry was wondering the same thing. Neville Longbottom was the last person Harry would ever expect to be able to fight Death Eaters.

Ginny added her own question, "And Luna Lovegood? She's," Ginny paused, "Well, she's . . . Loony."

"What's wrong with Neville?" asked Fred II, "He's everyone's favorite professor."

"And he's head of Gryffindor," added James.

"And he's one of the biggest heroes of the War," said Louis.

"_Neville Longbottom_?"

"Yes. Neville Longbottom," said James, "What's so surprising about that?"

"Nothing." Ron's ears were pink. "It's just that, well, he's just not . . . not very heroic, is he? I mean, I like him and everything—he's nice—but he isn't really that good at magic, is he?" He looked at Harry and Hermione. Harry nodded. He couldn't see how Neville could ever have become a war hero.

Hermione nodded, too, "But it's always possible for him to improve, isn't it?" She looked doubtful.

The time travelers were looking at them with expressions of shock on their faces. "But he's one of the most competent wizards in the world! He was even an Auror for a while! Now he teaches Herbology," Rose exclaimed.

"And Luna Lovegood?" Al turned to Ginny, "She's the godmother of your only daughter, Lily _Luna_! You really mean to tell us that you aren't even friends with her? Or Neville?"

"Not really. I don't even know who Luna Lovegood is. I know who Neville is, obviously, and I would consider him a friend, but usually it's just me, Ron, and Harry together whenever we do something," Hermione answered.

Lupin glanced at Harry, "Personally, I'm more interested in this Prophecy. What was it again?"

Harry was extremely glad someone else had asked about that. Rose immediately answered: "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches . . . Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies . . . And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not . . . And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives . . . The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies . . ."

"You said that was about Harry?" Hermione asked in a small voice, "Harry is the only one who can defeat You-Know-Who?" The time travelers nodded.

Harry felt like the walls were closing in on him. He turned to Dumbledore. "I have to defeat Voldemort?" His voice sounded strangled even to his own ears.

Dumbledore sighed, "I believed so, and the time-travelers have confirmed it. They have, however, also confirmed that you do succeed, and that you do survive, which you'll notice, giving the wording of the Prophecy, isn't guaranteed."

The time-travelers were all staring at Harry as if they had never seen him before. Al said, "Dad told us—I mean, you told us that the wording of the Prophecy just meant that both Voldemort and Dad—I mean you—had to die, and basically that whoever died first would be able to come back and whoever died second would be dead permanently. Dad—you—died first, so you won—will win."

"Harry Potter: breaking the laws of magic since the age of one!" Fred said, with a falsely cheerful voice.

George continued, "The Boy Who Lived—Twice!"

"The Defeater of the Dark Lord!" Fred exclaimed.

"Vanquisher of Voldemort!"

"Savior of the Wizarding World!"

Their attempt at lightening the mood fell flat. Everyone was staring at Harry, and he felt like he was either going to explode or collapse under the terrible knowledge that he had just been given. He wished everyone would just look at something else. Sirius seemed to understand Harry's silent plea, because he said, "Well, at least we know we win, right? Now, I personally would like some more information on our time travelers. We know your last names, but since most of you are Weasleys, that doesn't tell us who your parents are. I personally would love to know who Teddy Lupin's mother is. And if any of you have any siblings, and what age you are, and how about . . ." he glanced at Scorpius, "Hogwarts houses? I assume you do all go to Hogwarts? Or have graduated from Hogwarts?"

Scorpius answered first, "Yes, I am in Slytherin, if that's what you were wondering. About to go into my fifth year. My parents are Draco Malfoy and Astoria Greengrass."

"Who's she? She isn't in our year, is she? Does she have a sister in our year? Daphne?" Hermione asked. Ron shrugged. Harry didn't react. He had a knot the size of a Quaffle in his stomach.

Rose went next, "Well, you already know who my parents are. I'm in Gryffindor, and also going into my fifth year. And I have a younger brother, Hugo."

Al continued, "You know who my parents are, too. James is my older brother, and I have a younger sister named Lily," Sirius and Lupin smiled, "and I'm going into my fifth year in Slytherin." He looked uncomfortable.

Ron yelped, "Your son's a _Slytherin_?!" Sirius, Lupin, and everyone else around the table looked surprised, too.

Harry would probably have been more upset if he hadn't been still thinking about the Prophecy. "It's probably not that bad, right? I mean, I'm sure there's _some_ decent Slytherins." But he sounded doubtful even to his own ears.

"Yeah, like who?" Ron asked.

"Er," Harry honestly couldn't think of one. He looked around. Snape looked disdainful. Dumbledore looked amused. "We don't know all the Slytherins in our year, do we? The only ones we know are the ones who aren't decent. So maybe some of the ones we don't know are okay?" Ron raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"Well, honestly! This is your son we're talking about, Harry!" Hermione stated, "And Ginny's! You thought he was decent before you learned he was in Slytherin, and so you really shouldn't judge him now. I'm sure you and Ginny raised him very well."

"My mother was a Slytherin," Tonks said, "She didn't like it there much, but the Sorting Hat did put her there."

"Yes, and Andromeda was always my favorite cousin," Sirius said, then grinned, "Although, since all of them were in Slytherin, there really wasn't much competition."

Tonks hit him. Al looked less uncomfortable than before. James grinned, "At least I'm a Gryffindor! So if you disown him, you'll still have me!" Al glared at James over Scorpius and Rose. "I'm going into seventh year, and can I just say that it's really, really weird to be older than both your parents."

Fred II nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I have a younger sister named Roxanne. I'm also a seventh year Gryffindor, and my parents are George Weasley and Angelina Johnson."

"Oooh, you lucky man," said Fred to George. George grinned.

"So does Fred have a son named George?" George asked.

The time-travelers didn't answer for a few seconds. Then Louis said, "Uncle Fred actually doesn't have any children. He refuses to tell us why, so we have been forced to assume that there was some accident that rendered him incapable of reproducing."

George, Bill, Ginny, Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks roared with laughter, while Mr. Weasley looked like he was trying his hardest not to join them. Fred pouted, "Oh, I'm sure it's just that I don't want to have to deal with any annoying little children." He looked pointedly at Louis, who grinned, but it looked strained.

Louis continued with the introductions, "You know who my parents are. I'm also going into my seventh year in Gryffindor. Victoire is my oldest sister, and we have another sister named Dominique who is in between us."

Victoire added, "And I was in Gryffindor, too, but I graduated four years ago. I'm a Trainee Healer."

Teddy finished the introductions, "I was in Gryffindor too, and graduated six years ago. I'm an Auror. Can you really not guess who my mum is?" He changed his hair to pink and his nose into a pig snout. Sirius grinned. Tonks and Lupin both turned red.

"Two more people are coming," said Moody suddenly. "They look like older versions of . . ." But the two newcomers burst into the room, wands raised, before Moody could finish, meeting a sea of wands pointed at them. Harry was sure they were older versions of him and Ron. It was interesting to see himself and Ron as adults, if that is who they were. Ron had some strange scars all along his arms, and both of them looked very powerful.

There were cries of "Dad!"

"Harry!"

"Ron!"

"Uncle Harry!"

"Uncle Ron!"

"Do you know how to get us back?" Rose asked.

The other Harry and the other Ron took in the scene in front of them, mouths slightly open. "No, we don't know how to get you back," the other Ron said. "Are you all okay?" Neither of them had lowered their wands in the slightest, although most of the Order had. Moody, of course, had not.

The time-travelers nodded, and Teddy told the other Harry and the other Ron, "We're pretty sure we did time travel, although I don't think any of us know how it happened. I asked Nymphadora Tonks to change her appearance, and Sirius Black to change into a dog, and it all seemed okay to me. But you know the members of the Order of the Phoenix much better than me."

The other Harry and the other Ron looked at each other. The other Harry then pointed his wand at Sirius, "Could you change, please?"

Sirius changed into a dog, then back. He was looking curiously at the other Harry, as if he didn't know what to make of him. Ron leaned over to Harry, grinning, and whispered, "Probably still wondering how in the world you managed to have a son who is in Slytherin."

The other Harry pointed his wand at Tonks next, and she morphed into Teddy before he could ask her to change. The other Harry smiled, and raised his eyebrows at Teddy, who smiled at Tonks and morphed into her. Then the other Harry pointed his wand at Dumbledore, "What is your favorite flavor of jam? And what did you tell me you saw in the Mirror of Erised?"

"Raspberry. And I believe I told you I saw myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."

The other Harry nodded, then turned his wand on Snape, whose eyes were glittering dangerously. He also still had his wand pointed at the other Harry, although Harry suspected it was not for fear that the other Harry was a threat, but rather that he enjoyed having Harry at wandpoint. The other Harry seemed to be considering what to ask Snape. Finally, he said, "What is your Patronus?"

Snape looked shocked, as much as Snape could look shocked, which wasn't much, and his wand dropped a few inches. Dumbledore also looked surprised. It took Snape a few seconds to answer, "A doe."

Harry thought Lupin made a soft noise that seemed to be of comprehension, but the other Harry was already speaking to Moody after he and the other Ron had lowered their wands, "Do you have questions for us? We are convinced of who you are."

Moody growled, "I don't know either of you well enough to ask you questions, but I would like someone to ask you questions to prove who you are."

Dumbledore spoke first, "What did you see in the Mirror of Erised the first time you saw it?"

The other Harry answered, "Me with my family."

"And Mr. Weasley?"

The other Ron glanced at Bill, Fred, and George, before saying, "I saw myself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, holding the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup."

"Wow, you're a bit ambitious, aren't you, Ronniekins?" asked Fred.

The other Harry said, "Well, he was made prefect, and I think he would have become Head Boy if we had actually gone to school Seventh Year."

"You didn't go to school Seventh Year?!" Mrs. Weasley asked, her voice louder than usual. "Why ever not?"

The other Ron answered, "Well, Harry here was the most wanted person in the world, with a 10,000 Galleon price on his head. Hermione was the most wanted witch, and I decided I'd rather be with them then spend another year at Hogwarts."

"Ah," said Fred, "That's the type of behavior we expect from our prefects. Hanging out with wanted criminals."

George continued, "Although I must confess myself disappointed that you didn't have a price on your head, too, Ron." Fred and George shook their heads in mock disappointment.

Mrs. Weasley's voice was shrill when she said, "But why? What did Harry and Hermione do to make themselves such wanted criminals?"'

The other Ron answered, "Well, Harry was still alive, which is what made him the most wanted wizard, 'cause Voldemort had taken over the Ministry, and Harry was at the top of his hit list. Hermione was wanted because she was Muggle-born, and she was wanted more than all the other Muggle-borns because everyone knew she was friends with Harry. I didn't have a price on my head because you two and Dad helped me transfigure our ghoul so he looked kind of like me with Spattergroit, so the Ministry thought I wasn't with Harry and Hermione." He turned to Fred and George, "Eventually they did find out, and I did get a price on my head, if that makes you feel any better."

Everyone was silent. Harry didn't know what to think about first—that he would be the most wanted wizard in the world, or that Hermione was wanted _because_ _she was Muggleborn_, or what in the world Spattergroit was.

The silence was broken by a shouted cry outside the kitchen door, "SCORPIUS!" followed by Mrs. Black's screams.

The door flew open again just as the members of the Order raised their wands, and someone who could only be an older version of Draco Malfoy stood in the doorway. He also had his wand up. He looked around and found Scorpius, "Are you okay?" Scorpius nodded. "Granger said she thought it was time-travel." He sighed and lowered his wand slightly. "Of all the times they could have gone to, they had to go to this one. This is a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix?" he asked the other Harry and the other Ron. They nodded, and the other Ron went out of the kitchen to shut up Mrs. Black again.

When he came back, the other Ron asked, "Did Hermione say anything about how we get back?"

"No. She and your wife, Potter, told me to tell you that you had better get back soon, because they're plotting how best to murder you when you get back, and the longer you take to get back the more time they'll have to think of the most painful deaths they can." He smirked. "I must say, I look forward to seeing that. Granger looked even more angry than the time she punched me in the face third year."

Harry and Ron, and their counterparts, all smirked at the memory. Hermione went red.

The future Malfoy turned to look at Snape. "Professor Snape." He paused. "It's good to see you again. I would have named my son after you, but Potter got there first."

James snorted, "Oh, that would have been a great name: Ssssscorpiussss Ssssseverusssss, the sssssslimy sssssnake from sssssstinkin' Sssssssslytherin. Not that Albus Severus is really any better: just one fewer 'S'."

Harry was stunned. "You named your son after Snape!?" Sirius asked disbelievingly. "What were you thinking?!" Harry had no answer. The future Malfoy was smirking.

The other Harry, though, did, "He saved my life multiple times. Don't worry;" he grinned at Sirius, "my firstborn is named after you: James Sirius Potter." Sirius grinned back. "And I would have named someone after you, too, Remus, but Teddy's middle name is already Remus, so I figured that was enough." Lupin smiled at the other Harry.

Snape sneered, "I expect he named his son after me after I saved his sorry self from some danger because he is incapable of keeping himself out of trouble, just like his blasted father."

"POTTER! WEASLEY!" someone shouted from outside the kitchen door, waking up Mrs. Black again, but his shouts drowned out even Mrs. Black's screams, "IF YOU'VE HURT A HAIR ON MY GRANDSON'S HEAD I SWEAR TO MERLIN I WILL FIND YOU AND KILL YOU!"

Harry had just enough time to notice that Scorpius had turned pink, the Malfoy from the future had turned white, and the other Harry and the other Ron were trying not to laugh when the kitchen door burst open again, making Mrs. Black's shrieks seem even louder. In the doorway stood an older Lucius Malfoy, with an older Narcissa Malfoy just behind him. Mr. Malfoy had his wand raised, while Mrs. Malfoy seemed to be trying to get him to lower it.

The other Harry pointed at Scorpius, who gave a small smile to his grandparents, while the other Ron pushed past the Malfoys to close the curtains over Mrs. Black, again. Silence fell, and Harry noticed that everyone in the Order was standing up, with their wands pointed at Mr. Malfoy and Mrs. Malfoy. The other Ron and the other Harry looked at each other. They both still looked like they were fighting grins. The other Harry spoke first, "Yes, it's Lucius Malfoy. At least you know he's not using Polyjuice, right? Because nobody would use Polyjuice to become Lucius Malfoy to break into an Order meeting?"

"This isn't funny, Potter," snarled Mr. Malfoy.

The other Harry's grin broke through, "I think it is. Of all the times the kids could have gone to, they landed smack in the middle of a major Order meeting, and then Voldemort's right-hand man shows up!" He paused. "It's 1995, so you're still Voldemort's right-hand man." He grimaced. "At least they didn't get sent to 1997 while they were at your house, right?"

Lucius Malfoy paled and lowered his wand, "I merely wish to make sure my grandson is not in any danger. I mean no harm to anyone."

"Of course you would say that," said Moody, "but we don't really have any proof of that, do we?"

"Mrs. Malfoy and I will surrender our wands if that will satisfy you," said Mr. Malfoy. He was looking at Moody the same way Karkaroff had last year. Draco Malfoy had jumped when Moody spoke, and was now refusing to look at him. Harry and Ron grinned at each other. Twitchy little ferret.

Dumbledore spoke, "I believe that will do. I trust our future Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, and they do not seem worried for their safety." Moody took the Malfoys' wands, then returned to his place, still standing, although the rest of the Order had sat down at Dumbledore's words.

"Well, I think the food should be heated up by now," Mrs. Weasley said in the awkward silence, "So why doesn't everybody sit down and we can all eat and figure out how to get you back later?"

Everyone took her suggestion, even though the future Draco Malfoy looked awkward about it and looked like he wouldn't until Mrs. Weasley practically pushed him into a seat. Harry supposed he didn't want to eat with all the blood-traitors and Muggle-borns. Ron, it seemed, had also noticed this, because he glared.

The other Harry, however, was smirking. He told Mrs. Weasley, "You know, his son has been best friends with my son and Ron's daughter for five years, and he still refuses to come inside either of our houses or the Burrow, which we invite him to at least once a year." The future Malfoy got a pink tinge on his cheeks.

The other Ron continued, grinning, "I think he's scared of you, Mum."

"Oh honestly," Mrs. Weasley said. "Why would he be scared of me?" Her eyes were narrowed, though, and Harry thought she had come to the same conclusion about Malfoy's hesitation as he had. "Most likely he just doesn't want to get close enough to Fred and George for them to do anything to him." Fred and George gave identical evil smirks. Harry thought the future Malfoy might have a point there. He wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving side of anything Fred and George cooked up while wearing those smirks.

The other Harry and the other Ron smirked at each other. "Well, you became one of the most celebrated heroes of the war by killing Malfoy's Aunt Bellatrix," the other Harry explained, "It was the second most spectacular battle I've ever seen, beaten only by one I saw between Dumbledore and Voldemort himself. I think most people are scared of you." He smiled warmly at Mrs. Weasley. She looked quite shocked.

"Bellatrix Lestrange? Molly killed Bella?" Sirius started laughing. "That's great. She would hate that." He raised his glass to Mrs. Weasley, still laughing.

"Bellatrix Lestrange?" Harry asked. "Isn't she in Azkaban?"

Sirius shrugged, "I escaped, didn't I? She could, too. She's one of the most powerful witches on the planet."

The other Ron said ruefully, "Actually, there's a bunch of mass breakouts from Azkaban in the next couple of years."

Molly Weasley had noticed Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy still standing awkwardly in the doorway, and was telling them to sit down with everyone else. There was an empty seat between Harry and Teddy, and one between the other Malfoy and the other Harry. Mr. Malfoy was heading towards the one next to Harry. Harry did not want to sit next to Lucius Malfoy. He didn't know whether he was feeling anger or apprehension or utter shock as Lucius Malfoy made his way towards him, but he felt like bolting. The other Harry seemed to notice this, and realize what the problem was. Of course he would, Harry reminded himself, he's me. The other Harry said, "Mr. Malfoy, remember that the last time my younger self saw you was in a graveyard, laughing while he was being tortured. I would suggest you don't sit next to him." His voice was cold.

Mr. Malfoy looked at Harry, then turned towards the other Harry to sit down in the empty chair between him and the future Draco Malfoy. Mrs. Malfoy moved to sit beside him, instead, which wasn't really much better. But she didn't look quite as haughty as he remembered her.

"Sirius." She nodded her head in greeting. Sirius nodded back, smirking slightly.

"I assume you are Andy's daughter? Nymphadora?" Tonks nodded. Mrs. Malfoy continued, "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Sirius responded before Tonks could say anything, "Is it really? Even though some of her grandparents are Muggles?"

Mrs. Malfoy sniffed. "I've discovered there are more important things in life than blood purity."

"Like what?" Sirius asked.

"Family," she said, and her eyes flicked to the other Draco Malfoy.

"Believe it or not," said the other Harry, "she actually lied directly to Voldemort and saved my life in order to make sure her son was safe." Snape looked up.

"Really?" asked Sirius.

The other Harry nodded. "She's one of the only two people I know of who have actually successfully lied to Voldemort without him finding out." His eyes flickered to Snape, who was sitting across from him.

"What I'm more interested in is what exactly caused Hermione to punch Mr. Malfoy their third year," Lupin said, moving the conversation to lighter topics.

Hermione blushed again, "It wasn't really a punch."

Ron snickered, "No, it was just a really hard slap." He looked at Lupin, "Malfoy was laughing at Hagrid because Hagrid was upset about Buckbeak being sentenced to execution, which was Malfoy's fault in the first place." Ron glared at the other Malfoy. "It was great. I think instead of having a normal teenage rebellion thing lasting all through her teens, she just had one day of rebellion where she walked out of Divination and hit Malfoy."

The other Ron laughed, "Actually, sometimes I wonder if instead of us having a bad influence on her, she had a bad influence on us. All of our biggest rule-breakings were her idea. Like in second year when she convinced us to help her make Polyjuice Potion in a girl's toilet, or fifth year—she's the one who came up with the idea for the DA."

"A girl's toilet? You made Polyjuice your second year?" Bill asked Hermione. "That's extremely advanced. Isn't the book you need to make it in the Restricted Section? And why did you make it? And how did you get the ingredients?"

Harry answered, "We wanted to get into the Slytherin common room to find out who the Heir of Slytherin was who was attacking all the students. And yes, the book was in the Restricted Section, but we figured Professor Lockhart would sign anything, so we got him to sign for the book." He could feel McGonagall's glare, but ignored it. "And really, we didn't help much with the potion itself. Hermione did all of it."

"And the ingredients, Potter?" Snape hissed.

The other Harry answered, "Hermione did the actual stealing, but I was in charge of the distraction. Do you remember that firework that exploded Swelling Solution all over everyone?" Snape glared. Harry grinned, "That was me. Doesn't it stink that we're going to be wiping your memory before we leave? So you won't even remember my confession." Snape looked like he wanted to throttle the other Harry.

Fred and George, however, were grinning, "And did it work? Did you actually get into the Slytherin common room?"

"Yes we did," said the other Ron.

"You did?" asked the other Malfoy. "Who did you turn into?"

"Crabbe and Goyle," grinned the other Harry. "You're the one who actually let us in. We didn't find out much useful information about the Chamber of Secrets, except some stuff about the last time it happened, but we did find out about that secret chamber under your drawing room floor. Which we then told Mr. Weasley about."

The other Malfoy was gaping at them. So were Mr. Malfoy and Mrs. Malfoy. And Fred, George, Bill, Ginny, Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, and Lupin. Snape still looked angry. Dumbledore's eyes were twinkling.

McGonagall said, "Let me get this straight. You successfully got a book out of the Restricted Section, stole a bunch of ingredients from Professor Snape's private stores, successfully made Polyjuice Potion in a _girl's toilet_, and then got into the Slytherin common room and out again without anybody noticing? As _second years_?"

The other Ron grinned at the other Harry, "I guess we shouldn't tell her about that time the three of us robbed Gringotts."

Hermione gave a little whimper. "What?"

"WHAT?!"

"Gringotts?"

"You broke into Gringotts? Successfully?"

"And got out again?" Bill asked. "That's the hard part."

The other Harry answered, "Yeah, we had a bit of trouble getting out. They knew we had broken in, and they knew who we were, but we were already the most wanted wizards in the world, so it wasn't really as if they could do anything."

"Wait, you broke into Gringotts while you had prices on your heads? How did you even get past the marble hall?" Bill asked.

"Polyjuice potion, some transfiguration, and an invisibility cloak," said the other Harry.

"I want to hear the entire story," said Sirius, "I thought it was impossible to successfully rob Gringotts."

The other Harry answered, "It's also supposedly impossible to break out of Azkaban."

"Yeah, but I had an advantage that nobody knew about that they didn't factor in when locking me up," said Sirius, referring to his Animagus form. "You didn't, did you? As far as I can tell, you don't really have any special abilities, no offense, except maybe ridiculously good luck. Or bad luck, depending on how you look at it."

The other Harry grinned. "Well, I think that good luck is what helped us with this, because everything basically went wrong from the start." He paused. "Well, we figured out that something that we needed to destroy before destroying Voldemort was in Bellatrix Lestrange's vault in Gringotts."

"Bellatrix Lestrange's vault?! But that's all the way at the bottom! It has a dragon guarding it, doesn't it?" asked Sirius. "And here I thought you robbed one of the vaults that was comparatively easy to get to."

The other Harry grinned again. "Yes, there was a dragon. Anyway, we had some Polyjuice Potion, but not a lot, because we had already used a bunch of it, so Hermione took some to look like Bellatrix, and transfigured Ron so he was unrecognizable, and I went under my invisibility cloak with a goblin, Griphook, who was helping us."

"Wait a second," said Sirius, "don't you need a bit of hair or something of the person you're going to change into? How in the world did you get close enough to Bella to do that without getting killed?"

Harry noticed that the Malfoys had tensed, and were all looking at their plates, except for Scorpius, who was watching the other Ron and the other Harry. The other Harry looked at the other Ron and said, "We were captured. She was there. We did manage to escape before we were killed, though."

Sirius looked horrorstruck, but the other Harry continued before he could say anything. "Anyway, Hermione had Bellatrix's wand."

Sirius interrupted again, "How did she get Bellatrix's wand?"

"I told you, we escaped. We took her wand, but left Hermione's there, so Hermione used her wand. Anyway, on our way to Gringotts a Death Eater came up to us and told us he thought that Bellatrix was confined to Malfoy Manor . . ."

"Malfoy Manor? Why Malfoy Manor?"

"Sirius!" Lupin said, "Stop interrupting Harry!"

The other Harry smiled his thanks at Lupin. "So the Death Eater, whose name was Travers, said he didn't know Bellatrix was allowed to be out, but Hermione brilliantly said some snooty thing about how 'The Dark Lord forgives those who have served him most faithfully in the past. Perhaps your credit is not as good with him as mine is, Travers.'"

Draco Malfoy sniggered, and when everyone looked at him, he shrugged. "That's exactly what she would have said."

"Yes, and she said it the exact way Bellatrix would have, too," Harry grinned. "So we got to the gates of Gringotts and Confunded the wizard guards who were guarding the entrance, because Voldemort had put extra wizard guards around Gringotts, and I think made some other changes, which is why Griphook had left. Then we got inside, and Hermione went up to the desk and asked to go to her vault, so they asked her for her wand as identification, which told us that they knew who we were, because we had taken Bellatrix's wand, so I Imperiused the goblin—Bogrod—and Travers and . . ."

"WHAT?"

"You used an Unforgivable?"

"That's illegal!"

"And for good reason!"

"What were you thinking?"

The other Harry and the other Ron glanced at each other. They seemed surprised at first that it was such a big deal that they had used an _Unforgivable_, but the other Harry answered, "We didn't really have a choice. We needed to get the cup before we could destroy Voldemort. So yes, I used an Unforgivable. I had forgotten . . ." He trailed off.

The other Ron gave a wry grin at Harry, "You had forgotten how uncommon Unforgivables used to be? I don't think Hermione and I even blinked when you told us the goblin and Travers were Imperiused, and it wasn't until we were explaining everything to my family and heard their reactions that I realized that I had just accepted it and forgotten about it."

The other Harry nodded, and looked like he was about to continue with the story when Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "What do you mean Unforgivables _used to be_ uncommon? How often did you use them?"

The other Harry answered, "They've become uncommon again in our time, but the last year before Voldemort was defeated, he had taken over the Ministry and Hogwarts and Azkaban _and_ Gringotts, so Unforgivables were used quite often. Anyway, I made Travers go hide, and made Bogrod take us to Bellatrix's vault, but they knew we were there, so they had set off the defences against us, so we went under some waterfall . . ."

"The Thief's Downfall," said Bill. "Really, at that point you were bound to be caught."

The other Harry shrugged, "Well, it made Hermione and Ron look like themselves again, so . . ."

Moody interrupted, "Shouldn't it also have ruined Potter's invisibility cloak?"

Bill nodded, but the other Harry answered, "My invisibility cloak is . . ." He glanced at Dumbledore. ". . . different. It was fine. Al has it now, actually. But anyway, we got to the vault, and yes, there was a dragon guarding it—a blind dragon, but thanks to Griphook we knew how to get past, and Bogrod put his hand on the vault door and we went in. It took us a while to find the cup, and they had added Gemino and Flagrante Curses, so everything we touched multiplied and burned, but it was almost impossible not to touch anything. We found the cup, though, and I put Gryffindor's sword through the handle, so I didn't have to touch it, but by then we were pretty much swimming in burning treasure. I slipped and Griphook grabbed the sword, which we had agreed to give him in exchange for helping us rob Gringotts, so I had to hold onto the cup with my bare hands. Then I made Bogrod open the door for us again, and we spilled out to see a crowd of goblins coming for us. So we fought them for a bit before we decided . . ."

"Harry decided," said the other Ron. "This was all Harry's idea."

"Well, it worked, didn't it?" replied the other Harry. "There was no way we could have fought our way through all those goblins, so we broke the dragon's chains and climbed on its back."

"What?" It was almost a whisper. Mrs. Weasley looked utterly shocked. Everyone else was speechless.

Harry laughed, "Well, we didn't have any other options."

McGonagall seemed to have found her voice again, "That does not count as an option! What were you thinking?! I honestly have no idea how you are still alive."

Harry grinned at her, "Like Sirius said, I have a lot of luck. Anyway, we helped the dragon break through Gringotts until we got to the marble hallway again and into Diagon Alley, and then we flew away. We actually weren't really sure how to get off the dragon, but eventually it started flying lower towards a lake, and we jumped off."

There was silence.

"I think, honestly, you were glad to have gotten rid of the three of them a year early," the other Draco Malfoy said to McGonagall. "Although there were three more ready to step up and make as much trouble as they could." He looked disgruntled. "I think you were glad only two of those were Gryffindors."

"Oh please," the other Ron said, "she helped them cause trouble!" He grinned, "Actually, she starts causing trouble this year." He looked at McGonagall and shook his head sadly. McGonagall looked shocked. Snape was smirking at McGonagall's discomfiture. Dumbledore raised his eyebrows and looked at McGonagall.

"Albus, you know I would never . . ." She seemed lost for words.

"Well, Dumbledore leaves," the other Harry explained.

The other Ron interrupted, "was kicked out, you mean, . . ."

". . . and you didn't really like the new Headmistress."

"Hated her, actually."

"I think the entire school hated her. Remember how all the professors . . ."

"They just let the school descend into chaos!"

"It was great. Professor McGonagall became my new hero." McGonagall looked surprised.

The two of them were speaking in a manner that reminded Harry of Fred and George—finishing each other's sentences and always knowing exactly what the other was thinking. The other Draco Malfoy looked at Harry and Ron. "And I thought you two were annoying when you were your age."

The other Harry and the other Ron stopped reminiscing. "What?"

"You sound like Fred and George," Bill said.

"You mean they haven't always done that?" James asked.

"I think it started when we were in our early twenties," the other Harry said.

"In this time we've only known each other for what? Four years? In our time we've known each other for about thirty. Of course we finish each other's sentences."

"I think the future Miss Granger has just arrived," said Moody.

The kitchen door opened. "Rose! Ron! Harry!" The other Hermione ran to the other Ron and grabbed him and kissed him like she would never let go (Ron and Hermione both turned bright red). "You've had everyone so worried! You've been gone over half a year, and . . . and . . ." She burst into tears, grabbing Rose as well and reaching for the other Harry.

"Over half a year?" the other Ron asked, "But we've only been here about half an hour!"

"Well, yes. I tried to get as close to the time you arrived as possible. I could just as easily have arrived half an hour _before_ you arrived. It took a while for me to figure out what exactly was in that room that made you all disappear, and then I had to make sure I knew how to get all of us back before I could follow you, which was the harder part, because the Ministry hadn't made time-turners that could go into the future yet."

Rose interjected, "I thought that was supposed to be impossible?"

The other Hermione said, "It was thought to be, but then I remembered . . ." She turned to the other Harry, "You know how in the Department of Mysteries we saw that Death Eater fall into the bell jar?" The other Harry nodded. "His head kept changing between a baby's head and his regular-aged head? Well, that proves that time travel to the future is possible, so I figured out how. And it's been tested and everything, so we know it works."

The other Ron kissed the other Hermione, and told her, "You're brilliant."

Both Hermiones blushed. This time's Ron blushed too.

"We need to get back soon. Ginny's really worried, and so is everybody else. I don't think I've seen George so quiet since . . ." She stopped, then said, "Okay, what you need to do is touch one of these." She put on some gloves and pulled out some objects that looked like time-turners. "They'll send you back to the future. They've been pre-programmed for a certain time, so you don't need to spin them or anything. There's one for each of you. Who wants to go first?"

"I'll go," said the other Ron.

"What sent us here in the first place?" asked the other Harry at the same time.

"Oh, it was in that secret room the kids found. There was some of the types of sand they use in Time-Turners in there. I don't know how it got there, or how we missed that room when we redid the house, but when the door was opened, it sent the sand up in the air, and walking through it sent you back in time. That's part of the reason it took me so long to figure out how to get you, because it was difficult to figure out how much sand got blown around, because it's moving the sand that causes you to move in time, otherwise it doesn't do anything. So it didn't send you back in time depending on how much sand was in the room, but rather by how much sand you walked through. And there was some fear that you might have turned into younger versions of yourselves, because some types of time sand do that. But that wasn't one of the types in the room, which was lucky, because then the kids would have . . ." She sniffed, "you know." The other Ron hugged her. "Anyway, Ron will go first, and then the kids?"

"Sounds good," said the other Harry.

The other Ron looked like he wanted to say something to the Order, but he just shrugged and grabbed the object Hermione handed him. There was a pop, and he disappeared.

The younger time travelers all left in a similar manner after Moody returned their wands. Mrs. Weasley watched each one go with tears in her eyes. Harry thought Teddy Lupin might have been crying when he left, but the other Harry had moved to block him from view.

The Malfoys were next. Moody returned their wands (neither Malfoy looked very happy about having Moody so close to them). Lucius Malfoy turned to Snape before he left, "You help me and my family out a great deal in the next couple of years, and I never get a chance to tell you how grateful I am. So thank you." He nodded at Snape.

Something seemed off about Mr. Malfoy's statement, but Harry wasn't sure what it was, until McGonagall figured it out, "When you say that you never get a chance to tell him how grateful you are, does that mean that he dies?"

"What, you thought I'd name my son after him if he were still alive?" the other Harry asked. "I almost thought he'd come back to haunt me when I named Al that."

Nobody seemed very upset about Snape dying except the Malfoys, Dumbledore, and perhaps McGonagall. Even Snape didn't seem upset.

"Harry," Dumbledore said, looking at the other Harry, "in case I die too . . ."

"Dumbledore!" many people admonished.

But Dumbledore continued as if he hadn't heard them, "I want to thank you for naming your child after me as well."

The other Harry nodded, and Lucius Malfoy touched the object the other Hermione was holding out to him and disappeared.

Mrs. Malfoy was about to follow, but she also turned to Snape and said, "Draco would be dead without you, and so I also thank you." She paused, "And Sirius." She looked at him, "I do believe family is more important than anything, and I do still consider you family. I just," she paused, "I didn't realize it until it was too late. It's good to see you again." She disappeared with a pop, leaving Sirius looking stunned.

The other Draco Malfoy also turned to Snape. "If you were still alive, I would have asked you to be Scorpius' godfather, even though you're not . . ." He stopped uncomfortably.

"Pureblood," Sirius put in, looking at the other Malfoy curiously. "You were willing to have a half-blood as a godfather? Maybe things actually do change."

Snape seemed too surprised to glare at Sirius, and the other Malfoy answered, "Yes, well, the way things are going, my child is probably going to end up dating a child whose mother is . . ." He shuddered, "_Granger_."

The other Hermione raised an eyebrow. "We can just leave without you, you know, Malfoy."

The other Malfoy grinned fleetingly, then turned to Snape again. "I don't know if you want to know what you did, but basically the Dark Lord gave me a job . . ."

"You became a Death Eater?" Snape asked.

The other Draco Malfoy ignored the quick intakes of breath and the wands suddenly pointed at him. It seemed whatever he wanted to say to Snape was important. "Yes, right after my fifth year." McGonagall and Dumbledore glanced at each other with grim looks on their faces. "Anyway, I was unable to do this job, and so you did it for me. And watched out for me my sixth year as I was trying to do the job, and my seventh year when everyone knew I was a Death Eater. So thank you."

Snape also ignored everyone staring at him. "How would doing your job for you save you?"

"I came really close to doing it, so you just said that you couldn't have done it without me. The Dark Lord wasn't happy with me," he shuddered, "but he didn't kill me."

"What type of job could you have gotten really close to doing but couldn't, yet that Snape could still do?" Moody asked. "I mean, since Snape is working for the Order."

The other Malfoy clearly didn't want to answer. He kept looking between Dumbledore and Moody nervously. The other Harry jumped in, "He had to kill someone who was difficult to kill, and he got the wizard wandless and defenseless, but couldn't cast the Killing Curse. So Snape cast it instead. The wizard was dying anyway, so this way kept Malfoy alive and killed nobody who wouldn't have died soon anyway."

The other Malfoy glanced at the other Harry gratefully, then nodded at Snape, grabbed the time-travelling object, and disappeared.

Only the other Harry and the other Hermione were left now, but before the other Harry could leave, Moody asked, "Who was he supposed to kill?"

"I'm not telling you that. Sorry." The other Harry looked around at the Order as if he were going to say something else, but instead disappeared with a pop.

"I'm going to have to modify all of your memories, because just seeing us is telling you too much about the future," said the other Hermione. Some people, such as Snape, looked uncomfortable at this. The other Hermione noticed this and added, "or maybe Professor Dumbledore can modify everyone's memory, and I can modify his?"

This was agreed on, but before anything happened, McGonagall said, "But we _do_ win? You-Know-Who is defeated?"

"Yes. We win."

Harry saw smiles on the Order's faces as Dumbledore pointed his wand every individual person, making each one drop off to sleep, until he pointed his wand at Harry. Memories of the past hour flashed past Harry's mind, and then he felt himself falling asleep.

Harry looked at his food. He had been nodding off; he was much more tired than he had originally thought. He saw Ron and Hermione were having the same problems. Many of the Order members were yawning, too, as they got ready to leave. Mrs. Weasley had noticed how tired they all were, and as soon as the food was finished, she sent them all to bed. Harry saw the chessboard that he had been playing against Ron on earlier, and vowed to himself that he would someday beat Ron. Someday. In the future.


	2. Epilogue: 2022

His parents. Teddy Lupin had actually seen his parents. They were awesome. The stories he had heard about them did not do them justice. His dad, he had heard, was quiet and kind. What Teddy had never known was that his dad was so curious. Teddy remembered every word he had heard his dad say: "How?" and "Personally, I'm more interested in this Prophecy. What was it again?" and "Sirius! Stop interrupting Harry!" He wanted to know more, wanted to understand. He didn't only want to know about serious topics, though: "What I'm more interested in is what exactly caused Hermione to punch Mr. Malfoy their third year." He laughed often. Any joke anybody had told, anything funny that happened, Remus Lupin was laughing. He wasn't laughing as loudly or as exuberantly as the people next to him were, but he was laughing. Teddy had never known that before. And Teddy's mum. She was one of the ones laughing with her mouth open and her head thrown back next to Teddy's dad. Teddy also remembered everything his mum had said: "My mother was a Slytherin. She didn't like it there much, but the Sorting Hat did put her there." She was willing to welcome anybody, even Slytherins or Malfoys. Whenever people talked about Nymphadora Tonks, they mentioned her hair or her klutziness, not her big heart. Teddy now had _actual memories_ of his parents. He couldn't stop thinking about them. His _parents_.

Victoire Weasley was surprised at how different her dad looked without all the scars over his face. She hadn't even recognized him! She had never understood why her family had always said that Dominique looked like her dad, because she and all her cousins had always assumed that because Dominique was good-looking, it all came from her mum, and that the rest of the family was just commenting on how Dominique had red hair, rather than blonde. Victoire didn't even want to think about how horrible it must have been for her dad to get those scars, or for the rest of the family to see him for the first time, not just no longer good-looking, but suddenly ugly. Or her mum. Victoire had often thought that her mum was fairly shallow, and wondered how her mum had ever happily married into a family like the Weasleys, who were the opposite of shallow. But she knew her dad had gotten the scars after they were engaged, but before they were married, and she thought about how horrible it would be, to suddenly see the handsome man of your dreams become ugly, and yet not even hesitate to marry him. She knew that there was more to love than looks—really, looks hardly mattered compared to some other things—but she couldn't imagine what she would do if Teddy suddenly became ugly, with no hope of ever being good-looking again. She loved him for him, yes, but she also loved how he looked. What would she do, she wondered. She would probably cry at the unfairness of it all, and then after a few hours realize that she did love Teddy, no matter how he looked. But her mum hadn't needed a few hours. She remembered the story of that night, when her mum had said, "I am good-looking enough for both of us, I theenk!" She had always thought that was terribly shallow of her mum, but really, it was the opposite. Her mum loved her father no matter how he looked, and that was a deep love.

Louis Weasley was fascinated with Mad-Eye Moody. Moody was so creepy, Louis had barely been able to keep his eyes off him. He got creeped out every time Moody looked at him or spoke or moved at all. Or didn't move, and just stood still in the shadows, watching. Louis could see why Moody was the greatest Auror ever. He could probably cause Dark Wizards to fall down and surrender just by looking at them. Even the reformed Dark Wizards, the Malfoys, had looked seriously nervous at the sight of Mad-Eye Moody. Louis was pretty sure he wanted to be an Auror when he grew up. Not because his uncles or various other acquaintances were, but because Mad-Eye Moody was.

Fred Weasley II had been interested to see his dad and his Uncle Fred interact. He honestly hadn't been able to tell the two of them apart. And they hadn't even moved from their seats at all, which would have made it harder to tell them apart. He didn't really know much about his Uncle Fred, but he did know that he and his twin brother were so similar even their own mother couldn't tell them apart. He never understood that—every pair of twins he had ever seen had some differences, and the people who knew them well could tell them apart fairly easily. But he had never seen two people as alike as his dad and his namesake. They were literally identical. It was fascinating. Fred wasn't sure he would ever look at his dad the same way again: he would always remember that George Weasley was only one half of what had once been a pair.

The first thing James Potter's dad had done when he arrived was ask Mr. Malfoy, who had arrived just before him, whether he was okay. Mr. Malfoy had shrugged, "I just don't like thinking about that time."  
"Yeah, me neither," his dad had said with a sigh. James had always thought it was horrible that people had died so young in the War, but the survivors got to be heroes, be famous; everyone liked them, if they had fought for the right side. He had never really considered that those survivors might not have wanted to fight. It was why he still had a bit of a problem with the Malfoys, because clearly they had believed all that garbage about purebloods and Muggle-borns (not Scorpius; Scorpius was okay). What James had never realized was that people had been thrust into the War who didn't want to fight at all. His dad always said that it was stupid for him to be famous, since he hadn't really had a choice about fighting Voldemort. He also said that Mr. Malfoy hadn't had much of a choice, either. Not that either one of them had disagreed with what they were fighting for, but James understood why they could get along now that the War was over. They had similar wartime experiences, even though they were on opposite sides of the War. Their personal beliefs didn't matter so much—they got along because they knew the horrors of war. Their differing beliefs would probably keep them from ever becoming good friends, but they could be acquaintances without a problem. It wasn't until this time-travelling adventure that James had understood that the War was not an epic with heroes and villains, but rather a story of regular people who had been thrown into the middle of the power struggle of a psychopath.

Rose Weasley had never really understood why her mum was a Gryffindor. She seemed like such a Ravenclaw, with all her books and knowledge and schedules and plans. She was the one who worked a nice safe job while Rose's dad and Uncle Harry went off on adventures with the Aurors. Rose had always assumed that the only reason her mum had gone with the other two during what would have been their seventh year was because she was a wanted witch. Whenever her dad or uncle said that they would have died without her mum, she assumed they were talking about how it was lucky she came along. Lucky, as in, she wouldn't have gone if she didn't have a price on her head. Now Rose understood that her mum would have gone with them no matter what. When Rose had repeated the Prophecy, her mum from the past had looked terrified. "Harry is the only one who can defeat You-Know-Who?" She was frightened, but it was obvious that she would help her friend in any way she could, even if that meant going on the run with him while a Dark Wizard was trying to kill him. Rose's mum was Gryffindor through and through. A very knowledgeable Gryffindor, but then, there was nothing wrong with intelligence, Rose thought smugly.

Scorpius Malfoy had never realized just how much people had hated his family during the War. He kept hearing Harry's voice in his head, "Mr. Malfoy, remember that the last time my younger self saw you was in a graveyard, laughing while he was being tortured." Laughing while he was being tortured. _Laughing_. He couldn't believe Harry could look at him without feeling hatred. He had been told everything about his father's and his grandparents' involvement in the war before he had gone to Hogwarts, so that he would be prepared for any insults that came his way, and so he would know what was true and what was just people making stuff up. However, he had never before understood the nitty-gritty details. He knew that his grandfather had been in the graveyard with Harry Potter after the Dark Lord rose again, but he had never given much thought to how that must have felt to Harry. His grandfather hadn't really done anything that night. It was only important because it was the night the Dark Lord had returned. Because of this, Scorpius had focused on the more violent crimes his grandfather was involved in when he thought of the War. He had never before thought about how horrible it would be for people to laugh while he was being tortured. Yet the Potters and the Weasleys didn't hold it against him. Or his father. (They still didn't get along with his grandparents much, though.) In fact, when Scorpius' father had arrived back from the past, he looked strained, and the first thing Harry had done when he arrived right afterwards was ask Scorpius' father whether he was okay. It just didn't make sense to Scorpius.

Albus Potter had never really thought of his father as a hero. He knew other people considered him a hero, but his dad was just that—his dad. The man who taught him to play Quidditch, showed him some cool spells, gave him his invisibility cloak . . . his dad. Sure, Albus knew the story of how Harry Potter had defeated Lord Voldemort, and he thought it was pretty cool that his dad had done that. But he had never been in awe of his dad the way other people seemed to be. However, now that he had gone to the past, to the War, he was starting to see what other people saw. He wasn't about to forget the look of fear on the 15-year-old Harry Potter's face when he learned that he would have to defeat the darkest Dark Wizard in history. Albus had never before fully appreciated just how terrifying Lord Voldemort had been, how the bravest people he knew had all become absolutely terrified at the idea of meeting him face-to-face, even with the knowledge that they would win. He had always thought the people who were scared to say his name were rather stupid before now. And the way Albus Dumbledore had said that the wording of the Prophecy didn't say whether Harry Potter or Lord Voldemort would end up winning shocked him even more. His dad had spent about two years of his life not knowing whether he would live to see his next birthday, not knowing whether he would finish Voldemort or Voldemort would finish him. All those stories his parents and aunts and uncles had told him about glorious fights and desperate escapes didn't seem so glorious anymore, they sounded horrifying. He could not believe his relatives had lived through that, had been able and willing to literally fight for what they believed against the most terrifying Dark Wizard in history. Albus found it odd that seeing his dad so scared is what made him consider his dad a hero, because heroes aren't supposed to be scared, really. But Albus finally understood what everybody else was so excited about, why Harry Potter was famous, why people stared at him wherever he went—he was a hero.


End file.
